Notre Dame's Brian Kelly hires coordinators

When Bob Diaco made a coaching career upgrade from Brian Kelly's Central Michigan staff to Virginia, his boss was palpably disappointed, noting the loss of Diaco's passion would be substantial.

But the new Notre Dame coach subsequently recruited Diaco to his staff at Cincinnati and, as expected, now has brought him to the Irish to fill the most crucial spot on the new staff. As defensive coordinator, he will be charged with repairing a unit that torpedoed the 2009 season.

The Irish news release Thursday described Diaco's defense as "predicated on pressure in the offensive backfield," and that may incite flashbacks to Jon Tenuta's hyper-blitzing disaster of '09.

But evidently Diaco knows no other way.

"I'm an aggressive person and an aggressive coach," Diaco said in a statement. "There will be consistency, there will be detail, there will be aggressive coaching. I'm an energized, positive person who loves what I do."

Kelly also announced Thursday that Charley Molnar -- his passing-game coordinator at Cincinnati -- will serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

But it's the 37-year-old Diaco -- who Kelly called "one of the rising stars in this profession" -- who must deliver most.

Through the Wednesday bowl games, the Irish defense's total of 397.8 yards allowed per game ranked a dismal 86th nationally.

The downside of Diaco's '09 defense is it ranked a so-so 67th nationally and surrendered 39.4 points per game in its last five games.

The upside: Diaco replaced 10 starters and still produced a unit that ranked third nationally in tackles for a loss (8.46 per game), tied for 10th in sacks (2.85 per game) and allowed 3.6 yards per rush.

"We've created a system where we go quickly from three down linemen to four down linemen and we can get that reduced player wherever we need it to be," said Diaco, who also will coach inside linebackers.

"One great thing about basing out of a 3-4 is the element that the offense doesn't know where the fourth rusher will be coming from."

Molnar, meanwhile, has spent 10 of his 26-year career as an offensive coordinator, 16 as a quarterbacks coach.

"When we first get the quarterbacks, we'll try to just teach them the system and have them play within it," Molnar said in a statement.